Recapping the Moto2 and Moto3 contests from Aragon

Aragon Moto2 Race

Three thousandths of a second. That’s all that separated winner Deniz Öncü (Red Bull KTM Ajo) and second place Diogo Moreira (Italtrans Racing Team) in an all-time classic Moto2 thriller at the GoPro Grand Prix of Aragon – the closest finish in the new era of Moto2. Third place went the way of Barry Baltus (Fantic Racing Lino Sonego), the Belgian claiming his third podium in the last four races.

From a historic pole, Moreira pocketed the holeshot but at Turn 7, Öncü led. The Turk was on a march as we then witnessed double CFMOTO Inde Aspar Team drama. Daniel Holgado, out of control in the downhill braking zone at Turn 12, wiped out luckless teammate David Alonso as both crashed out on Lap 1.

Back at the front, Baltus was our new race leader on Lap 2. After a qualifying disaster, Manuel Gonzalez (Liqui Moly Dynavolt Intact GP) was up to P14 at the same stage, one place ahead of 2024 Aragon GP winner Jake Dixon (ELF Marc VDS Racing Team), as Aron Canet (Fantic Racing Lino Sonego) carved his way past Moreira on Lap 3 to demote the polesitter to P4. And on Lap 6, the top four of Baltus, Öncü, Canet and Moreira were locked together, with Alonso Lopez (Beta Tools SpeedRS Team) the chief chaser in P5, 1.4s adrift.

On Gonzalez watch, Lap 11 saw the #18 sit 0.7s away from the quartet of riders battling for P5 – those were Lopez, Filip Salač (ELF Marc VDS Racing Team), Silverstone winner Senna Agius (Liqui Moly Dynavolt Intact GP) and Joe Roberts (OnlyFans American Racing Team).

And further up the road, Öncü was getting a wriggle on. The Turk set the two consecutive fastest laps of the race on Lap 13 and 14 of 19, which put him 0.5s clear of Baltus. What did the Belgian, Moreira and Canet have in return? The answer from the Brazilian (Moreira) was a new fastest lap of the Grand Prix, but the gap – after a small fight with Baltus – was now 0.7s.

Moreira was coming though, and fast. Heading onto the final lap, the gap was zero after another fastest lap of the race! Öncü vs Moreira, Turkey vs Brazil. Turn 5 saw Moreira take the lead, so what answers did Öncü have? It all came down to the final two corners. And what a finish it was. Öncü hung his Triumph-Kalex around the outside as the duo locked elbows on the run to the line. Two rising stars gunning for their first Moto2 victory and by the skin of his teeth, Öncü stole it by 0.003s! Wow.

Baltus didn’t quite have the pace in the closing stages but it’s a third podium of the year for the Belgian, as Agius and Salač completed the top five ahead of Canet, who faded in the latter laps.

Senna Agius – P4

“I’m happy with that. Starting from P12 on the grid made it difficult to catch up. But I really wanted to be on the podium today, but P4 at the end of a weekend where we suffered quite a bit makes the result nicer. We focused on our pace all weekend to be in the best spot on Sunday, which we showed today. I’m really proud of the guys because we stayed calm. To be honest, I did my best today to overtake Aron Canet and catch up fourth place in the end. So, I’m very happy with what we achieved to say the least. Now we go to Barcelona for a test where we will do a lot of work to understand how we can improve for the next races. But until then I’m really happy, we’re on the right track.”

Aragon Moto2 Results

Moto2 Championship Standings

Aragon Moto3 Race

Leaving it until the last lap to take a first win is one thing, but the last corner is another. Still, David Muñoz (LIQUI MOLY Dynavolt Intact GP) finally got the job done in style at the GoPro GP of Aragon, taking a first win after a final corner attack on rookie sensation Maximo Quiles (CFMOTO Viel Aspar Team). In P3 it’s another rookie who continues to impress as Alvaro Carpe (Red Bull KTM Ajo) came strong late on, whilst teammate and Championship leader Jose Antonio Rueda made a last lap mistake to cost him late on and crossed the line in P8.

Grabbing the holeshot, Rueda was able to get through the opening sector cleanly but behind, a fast-starting Quiles had got into P2 at Turn 3, passing Luca Lunetta (SIC58 Squadra Corse). Quiles wasted no time by getting straight onto the back wheel of the #99 ahead of him as the usual early freight train in Moto3 took shape. Further back down the field, a tricky weekend for Stefano Nepa (SIC58 Squadra Corse) continued when he was taken out by Vicente Perez (LEVELUP-MTA) at Turn 9.

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On Lap 4, there was a clear established group of four at the front as joining Rueda and Quiles were Muñoz and David Almansa (Leopard Racing), both with great pace all the way through the weekend. However, just three laps later, it was all one big group again but down one rider as Jacob Roulstone (Red Bull KTM Tech 3) was forced to retire with a technical problem.

Into the second half of the 17-lap encounter and it was Almansa making moves back into the podium places but Sunday specialist Taiyo Furusato (Honda Team Asia) was right there too, ahead of Carpe, Championship challenger Angel Piqueras (FRINSA – MT Helmet – MSI), his teammate Ryusei Yamanaka and Joel Kelso (LEVELUP-MTA) all right there. On Lap 12, the lead changed for the first time with Lunetta and Muñoz getting ahead of Rueda, who was down to sixth place. Soon, it was Almansa who had got to the head of the field, showcasing his weekend pace when it mattered.

Into the last two laps, Quiles headed the group of ten riders but Muñoz was right there with him and hit the front to lead onto the last lap. Quiles retaliated and behind there was also a costly error for Rueda, with the Championship leader getting it all wrong into Turn 1 and costing himself a load of places. It was all boiling down to a final slipstream battle but the #28 of Quiles looked to have it sorted until Muñoz made a bold move into the final corner, keeping it clean and making it stick. Quiles tried to hit back on the drag to the line but came up just short as Muñoz becomes the latest winner in Moto3. Quiles missed out by just 0.050s as he waits it out for his own first victory, whilst remaining coy in third, Carpe could only watch on the duel for glory but nevertheless took a second rostrum of his rookie year.

It was a career-best P4 for Almansa who continues to edge closer to a first podium, ahead of Lunetta and Piqueras, with the latter taking a couple of points out of Championship leader Rueda.

A somewhat under the weather Joel Kelso managed to come through for P7 ahead of Rueda who rues his last lap mistake, whilst Yamanaka and Cormac Buchanan (DENSSI Racing – BOE) rounded out the top ten, the New Zealander equalling his best result yet. They just edged out Furusato, who couldn’t quite capitalise on his season-best qualifying.

Kelso still holds down third place in the Moto3 World Championship.

Joel Kelso – P7

“Overall it was a pretty tough weekend. I don’t feel very well, and everything piled up this weekend, but we tried to fight as much as possible in the race. We were in the leading group at the end. Seventh place isn’t where we wanted to be, but it was the best I could do. I thank the team for everything, now we’re preparing for Mugello, a home race for us, and we’ll try to achieve a good result.”

Young Kiwi Cormac Buchanan clinched his second top 10 finish – just 1.7 seconds from the win – to record his best performance yet in the Moto3 World Championship.

Cormac Buchanan – P10

“I’m really happy to finish in the front group and with the smart race I rode. Obviously, a bit disappointing because there was a lot more potential than 10th there. But I guess to not be over the moon with 10th place just shows how much we’ve progressed The weekend as a whole I was super happy with how we worked. “I had a plan to take it easy on the first laps, obviously not slow but just to not wear my tires out early on. I could see the way the guys I was following were opening the gas and knew that would destroy the tires before the end of the race so I had to stay patient, even though the lap times we were doing were half a second faster than my qualifying pace. With about six laps to go, I saw that my tyres were good compared to the others around me so I knew that was my moment to go for it. I got to the front of the second group then just tried to do my own pace I had been practicing all weekend and was able to bridge quite a big gap to the lead group. I was in the front group with about four laps to go which was a pretty cool feeling to be there for the first time in the world championship. I made my way up to about sixth or seventh but unfortunately a bit of contact bumped me back again. We could have fought for the podium so it was a bittersweet feeling.”

Jacob Roulstone starting from 6th place on the grid, his best qualifying result this season, and when the lights went out Jacob powered through with the front group but lost a couple of positions to exit the first corner in 9th. He quickly went past Taiyo Furusato to 8th exiting the first lap of 17. Then, there was a small battle for 7th between Roulstone and Angel Piqueras from the start of lap 2 as the two kept overtaking each other, but eventually it was our number 12 who overcame it. The Red Bull KTM Tech3 rider maintained a solid pace allowing him to move up to 6th, but we saw the Australian drop a few positions on lap 6, just before he entered the pits, appearing to have a technical issue. He tried to rejoin the race, but he was forced to withdraw. A disappointing outcome for Roulstone who had done one of his best season’s weekends. Knowing the pace and the confidence have been there, he will look to bounce back in two weeks at Mugello.

Jacob Roulstone – DNF

“I am very upset with today of course. I think that I was riding one of my best races. The start was not perfect, but I fought my way back and I felt quite quick in the group. From the 4th lap, I felt there was an issue, maybe a mapping issue, so I tried to change it, but could not, and I decided to go back to the pitlane. I changed the map when the bike stopped, and returned on track, but unfortunately it did not change anything. Anyway, we were able to show a bit more of ourselves today, it is just a shame that we could not show all our potential on this track. It is racing, so let’s just focus on the next round.”

Aragon Moto3 Results

Moto3 Championship Standings

2025 MotoGP Calendar